Source: US Southern District of Indiana/ATF/IMPD / US Southern District of Indiana/ATF/IMPD
INDIANAPOLIS — A major operation between Indianapolis Metro Police and the ATF has led to a gun trafficking operation being brought down. Now, police need your help finding the fourth and final man.
“Kevin Todd Jones Jr. is still a fugitive,” said Zachary Myers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, “the other three were arrested yesterday.”
All four men are facing up to ten years in prison for federal firearm charges as well as five years for conspiracy charges. According to Indianapolis Metro Police and the ATF, the men worked for a gun shipping company and were able to steal over 200 guns. The men then spread those guns throughout communities in Indiana, before three of them were eventually caught in Indianapolis.
Myers said the core of this issue is convicted felons, who shouldn’t have any access to guns, are doing everything they can to skirt the legal system.
“They’re getting firearms from straw purchasers, people who themselves might not have been caught and convicted of a crime, but who can walk into a gun shop and purchase a gun on their behalf and hand them to someone who had no business owning a firearm,” said Myers in a Friday press conference. “They’re getting these guns from burglaries. People stealing firearms from people’s homes, stealing firearms from vehicles parked outside. People are making private sales of firearms that go outside of the background check system to obtain firearms in that manner, even though they are prohibited.”
And most of these kinds of guns are found at crime scenes in cities like Indianapolis and Chicago, said Myers.
IMPD Deputy Chief Kendale Adams said it’s up to communities to work together and point out these suspects, who they may know personally, and turn them into police.
